


sweet like honey

by calosanza



Category: Peaky Blinders (TV)
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, MC is french, MC is not white, MC plays the piano, One-Shot, this may turn into something bigger if i can keep the inspiration long enough lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:42:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23547835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calosanza/pseuds/calosanza
Summary: Tommy watches Madeleine play the piano and can’t stop himself from what comes of it.
Relationships: Tommy Shelby/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	sweet like honey

Her fingers danced across the keys with a grace he never knew she possessed. Her eyebrows, normally knit together in a perpetual scowl, were relaxed, almost risen and her lips were pursed in concentration. Tommy could see her eyelids fluttering, eyelashes cast tiny shadows over her cheeks like the legs of the butterflies she loved so much.

As she finished her song on a high note, literally, and put her hands in her lap, Tommy cleared his throat. If he startled her she didn’t react as he crossed the threshold of the room to stand near the fireplace, which crackled jovially despite the warm spring air outside. He could see her bandages peeking out from under her sleeves as he sat in one of the plus chairs by the fireplace, angled towards the piano.

“How long have you been playing?” he asked her.

“Since I was a child. My parents always made sure I was keeping my hands busy so I wouldn’t get into trouble,” her voice was soft.

“Did it work?”

She gave a short, breathy, laugh. “Not at all. I still acted up in school only instead of talking back I pretended I was playing the piano on the tables.”

Tommy smirked. He was not surprised. He noticed the way she fidgeted, always tapping her foot or her fingers, always internally dancing along to the music that was no doubt playing in her mind at all times. He found it intriguing if not endearing. “Will you play me something?” the words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.

Madeleine blinked a few times. “I suppose,” she said. She sat up straighter and poised her fingers over the keys of the piano. A beat passed. She took a deep breath and played a chord. Then another. And then another. Tommy watched as her face went from a vague nervousness to poised elegance as sweet, lilting music filled the air. 

She played for a minute, whispered words coming from her mouth and Tommy assumed they were lyrics. He waited patiently, silently wishing she would sing. And then she did, words shaky and unsure, but she did not look at him to gauge his reaction. She seemed to be in a totally different world. Tommy didn’t understand a single word she was saying - the lyrics were in French and he couldn’t stop staring at her mouth. 

Her lips, scabbed from picking at them, formed the soft syllables of her language, a far cry from the hard, pointed edges of English. Of him. He rose slowly from his chair and moved towards the piano, towards her, like he was afraid that any sudden movement would startle her and she would stop playing.

He noticed her notice him; her voice faltered and her hands stalled but she did not stop. When the song ended and the final note still buzzed in the air, Madeleine finally looked up at him. The sun caught her golden brown eyes and Tommy could see tiny specks of green in her irises; blades of grass poking through the autumn leaves.

“That was lovely,” he said. She was lovely.

Madeleine answered with a small smile. “It was a song about a woman singing to her husband who was at sea. He was in the navy during the war and after he got back he was never the same. He would always leave and take his boat back to sea and just - sail, wherever the tide took him. She would always sing the song to him the night before he left and the night he got back.”

Tommy reached down for her face and gently tilted her chin up towards him. He leaned in and stopped a hairs’ breadth from her lips. Madeleine didn’t move. Her honeypot eyes here half closed, her lips parted. Tommy kissed her and she kissed him back. Her eternal chill was lost on her lips. They were warm and sweet and intoxicating.

**Author's Note:**

> hello! thank you for reading!   
> this is my first time writing for this fandom so if Tommy is OOC i’m sorry, please let me know what i can do better for next time!   
> like i mentioned in the tags, this may turn into a whole ass fic if i can keep the inspiration ball rolling long enough :DD   
> hopefully i’ll see you all in another one <3


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